Featured Unusual Art Nouveau in The Hague

I used to live in The Hague, in the coastal province of South Holland. A town full of history, including architecture dating back to the Middle Ages. But when I lived there I found the most striking buildings were Art Nouveau, and beautiful Art Nouveau tile tableaus.
I thought I'd share two my favourite The Hague Art Nouveau designs.

First, the former blacksmith's showroom, address Denneweg 56. The Denneweg is known for its antique shops, so I spent a lot of my time there.
As you can see, the facade is entirely made of cast and wrought iron and glass. It was built in the coronation year 1898 (Queen Wilhelmina), which is included just below the crown:



Second, the cat letterbox of "Huis van Lorrie", on one of the canals.
Mr Lorrie was an architect. He designed his own house in a mix of Gothic Revival and Art Nouveau, and included the beloved family cat in the design of the letter box. The cat's nose is the bell you ring if you deliver parcels:

 

I can read, under the cat: letters/mail only and something about the bell. I'm good, I'm not that good and don't actually read Dutch. The cast iron work is NICE. It looks more like lace than iron, which is fitting.

 

It says "voor brieven niet bellen", "don't ring for letters".

 

Sooo beautiful! Thank you for sharing AJ
If I lived there, I'd be haunting The Denneweg

 

Beautiful and very special. Thank you for showing us.

 

And we'd have lunch around the corner in a canal-side restaurant, near the house of Mata Hari. It used to be the Sephardic Jewish neighbourhood, very posh.

 

As If, these days. The regular postman may ring if he has a package pickup order but the package isn't out. Subsitutes won't bother. The ringing for the post stuff was probably done in the days when houses had servants.

 

Ca 1900 in a posh neighbourhood, so yes.

 

Btw, I called The Hague a town, but it isn't. It never had town rights, which is necessary for a settlement to be called a town. So it is the biggest village in the world, and the only village that is the seat of a national government.
Which leads us to another confusion: The Hague is the seat of government and was the capital for a while, but in 1808 Amsterdam was declared the capital.

 

I love that doorbell! I am glad there are laws in place to prevent a building owner from destroying the original design of a historic building. I like what the design company has done to modernize while keeping the beautiful ironwork.

 

I went last year, it is a beautiful village. I would love to go back and spend a lot more time walking around. As much as we saw, I feel like we also missed so much.

 

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

 

Love the glass and iron building, a bit exposed for living in before you get dressed in the morning

 

Den Haag is beautiful, very different from for instance Amsterdam. Amsterdam was a merchant city, Den Haag was for the aristocracy and the 'patricians'. (Very roughly speaking: Dutch patricians governed the land, the aristocracy pretended to govern.)

And you are right, there is so much to see and do.
You probably saw the parliament buildings with the monumental 13th century 'Ridderzaal', knight's hall, in the centre of the courtyard. That general area is beautiful, with the lake and tree-lined boulevards with grand 18th century houses and palaces.
A few old fishing villages are now part of the municipality as well, so there is a nice contrast.

When I was 20-21 I lived on the Laan van Meerdervoort, the long boulevard that leads from the centre of 'town' to the beach. If you visited Museum Mesdag, you visited the Laan van Meerdervoort.
I lived on the top floor of the house on the right:

 

We are hoping to go back next year and spend more time exploring. Truly my favorite trip.

 

And I am jealous I would love to live their!

 

Was living in Leiden from 1987-1989 and I played piano weekends at a restaurant in Den Haag from 1987-1988. Hotel Corona. I think the hotel is still there.

 

Yes, it is, and it has very good reviews.
This is a wiki page on Hotel Corona, I know you can read some Dutch:

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Corona

 

That letter box is to die for! I WANT it!

 

So do I, but they won't give it to me. They say it is part of the house and its monumental status.